Happy May Day!

Growing up each year on May 1st, I remember my sisters and I going down into the family room and "secretly" working on May Day baskets out of construction paper.  Then we'd go out to our mother's flower beds and pick flowers to fill these baskets all the time trying to remain unseen.  Then we would cross over the covered bridge between our house and our grandmother's house, pausing at the top of the path to be sure my grandma wasn't outside or anywhere to be seen.  After we were sure she was no where to be found we would race across her lawn to the neighbor on the other side of her house, an older woman who lived all alone and hang a basket on her door, knock on the door and then hide around the corner of the house.  We'd wait until we heard her open the door, discover the basket of flowers, call out a "thank you" and then we'd sneak back over to Grandma's house.  This was more tricky as there are windows all over the side of the house, but one of us would hang the basket on the Grandma's door, ring the doorbell and then join the others behind the bushes at the end of the house.  After hearing her discover her basket we would then return home and be sure that our mom was inside before leaving the basket on the front door, ringing the doorbell and then running around to go in the back door to pretend we had been home the whole time.  Although this was many years ago, each year at the start of May I think about these days and smile, remembering those special May Days. 

Now that I have two children of my own, I want to pass on some of the traditions  had growing up.  While it won't be the same (they don't live next door to their grandparents, so there won't be the "sneaking" and "secrecy" and we don't have fresh flowers growing at our house yet), this morning we spent time making baskets out of construction paper and they will be delivered to the grandparents hopefully bringing a smile to their faces and another way to know they are thought of and loved. And I am hoping this will be something my two will think back on in years to come.